


Calloused Palms, Fingertips Pressed

by JemTheKingOfSass



Series: Prompt-based MR oneshots [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Makoto has a fever, this series is all old fics being posted now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:49:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemTheKingOfSass/pseuds/JemTheKingOfSass
Summary: “Tch. Come on idiot, pick up your phone,” Rin muttered to himself as he redialed. His phone rang another seven times, which he knew for a fact meant thatMiss Independentby Kelly Clarkson was playing since Makoto had lovingly, or so he claimed, assigned that song as Rin’s personalized ring tone. Rin had lobbied hard forWork Bitchby Britney, “I mean, if you’re gonna make fun of me at least make it a badass song”, but the huge lug had been stubborn and far too pleased with his selection to change it.





	Calloused Palms, Fingertips Pressed

**Author's Note:**

> I have found 2 more! Huzzah! So this first one kinda makes sense right here (I added a line or two when proofreading about Rin teaching Makoto to cook, again just for flow from the last one). Other than that, these are pretty much unaltered from when I wrote them, like the rest in this series. I wonder if I've learned anything from TM or TYM that could add to the atmosphere in these? I don't know. Anyway. Is there ever enough MR? No, there is not.
> 
>  

 

 

Rin flung down his backpack and team duffel bag before the door had even closed behind him. His shoulders ached from lugging them all the way from the train station to his flat, not a long walk, but a decent enough distance for his body to mildly protest. He moved from the entryway after removing his shoes. Everything was dark and quiet, there was no food cooking, no music, no voice yelling out to welcome him home. 

 

“Hello?” Rin called out to his obviously empty flat. He lived by himself, why he expected a response was beyond him at the moment. Just because his boyfriend had always waited for him in his flat the other times he returned from a swim trip, did not mean it was tradition or something he should count on. No, Rin was not conditioned to expect someone to care whether he came or went. His mother had always worked late when he was young so she never waited for him to arrive after school. Lori picked him up after swim practice so they could go to the supermarket to find something for dinner, which was nice but not quite the same thing. Nitori gushed and shadowed him whenever Rin entered the dorm which was stifling, followed a year later by Sousuke, who had usually just grunted at him if he had even been in the room to begin with. And now, like ever since leaving Japan the second time, he lived alone. 

 

He expected Makoto. They had been dating long enough that his boyfriend would let himself in to his apartment on the day of his return to create a homey atmosphere. Makoto turned on a few lamps, turned up the heat or down the air-conditioning, lit two candles in the bathroom, and made dinner. Rin has taught him enough in the kitchen by now that the other man experimented the last time he came back from a tournament. He left Barcelona and came back to an attempt on paella, which was actually pretty decent, made ten times more delicious by the fact that his boyfriend made a relevant meal for them to share as soon as he walked in the door. 

 

The stagnant atmosphere of his lonely flat felt oppressive and depressing. Rin tugged his cell phone out of his pocket and thumbed around his contacts to locate the name and contact information for the hulking brunet he missed. The phone rang seven times before an automated voice informed Rin that this user’s voice mailbox was full. 

 

“Tch. Come on idiot, pick up your phone,” Rin muttered to himself as he redialed. His phone rang another seven times, which he knew for a fact meant that _Miss Independent_ by Kelly Clarkson was playing since Makoto had lovingly, or so he claimed, assigned that song as Rin’s personalized ring tone. Rin had lobbied hard for _Work Bitch_ by Britney, “I mean, if you’re gonna make fun of me at least make it a badass song”, but the huge lug had been stubborn and far too pleased with his selection to change it. 

 

For the second time in as many minutes, Rin was told about Makoto’s full mailbox. “What the hell, Mako?” Still talking to no one but himself, he lugged his bag containing his dirty laundry to the washing machine and started a load. Then he took everything else into his bedroom to quickly sort and put away before he jumped in the shower to wash away his travels. As he toweled off, he checked his phone to see if anyone had contacted him. Concern mounting, as Rin tended to jump to the worst conclusions first when left alone with his thoughts, he attempted to reach his partner again. 

 

“I don’t care,” he shouted at the computerized voice, which relayed the same message he already knew regarding the state of Makoto’s voice mail. He was fed up with the phone, as it had been his only point of contact with Makoto for the last week. He was the first to admit that Makoto spoiled him and eased his loneliness and loved him in ways that Rin had only dreamt about until the pair of them finally started dating. Feeling ignored and concerned, spoiled, lonely, still slightly damp Rin shoved his feet back in his shoes and stalked out of his apartment to hunt down his boyfriend. 

 

As he walked to his unofficial home-away-from-home flat, Rin called the fire department in the local district to make sure Makoto was not out on a call. If he was, Rin’s mind would not be eased but at least the mystery of his location and why he was ignoring his phone would be solved. The operator informed him Makoto was not out on a call. Rin detoured towards the brunet’s favorite coffee shop, where he did any extra grading from work, usually so deeply focused on his students efforts that he ignored everything around him while he marked papers. Rin considered contacting Haru. Makoto might be with his best friend that he had also not seen in a week due to the same tournament in California that had taken them both out of the country. He quickly recalled Haru’s exhausted face and parting words when he left Rin on the train earlier in the evening, his stop being a few stations further down the line. 

 

_“I’m going straight into the bath and I plan on falling asleep there,” Haru stated while he stifled a huge yawn._

_“Don’t drown, water boy,” Rin responded, only half kidding. “You should get out of the bath and then go sleep in a bed like a respectable professional athlete whose job it is to swim in a pool.”_

_Haru mumbled something unintelligible and waved over his shoulder._

 

Rin scoffed out loud at his absent ridiculous teammate who had long ago dragged himself home and was guaranteed to be dead to the world by now. Rin had roomed with Haru enough times to know when he was tired and said he was going to bed, he was asleep while his head was still on it’s free-fall towards the pillow. No, there was no way Makoto was occupied with Haru. Being the type of person he was, Makoto was often surrounded by friends and people who wanted to bask in his compassionate glow, but before Rin convinced himself that he had been abandoned for other people, he reminded himself that he would not be ditched on a night he came home from a trip. Makoto would never ditch him. 

 

The seedlings of creeping poisonous thought vines were absolutely not the reason Rin ran the rest of the way to Makoto’s apartment building. Sprinting past people, likely with a crazed look on his face, found him quickly out of breath and in the front lobby, calling up to the 1LDK to which he sought entry. By his fifth attempt, and the third suspicious look from the woman manning the front desk, the voice he had been waiting for crackled into his ear. 

 

“Rin?” Makoto’s voice cut in and out through the intercom on his end, but the static did not hide the weakness in his tone. “If it’s you, can you hand the phone to Mirai please? I need her help.”

 

“Sure Makoto.” Rin glanced at the woman who had been glaring at him, saw her name tag read “Mirai”, and wordlessly passed the phone to her. She listened for awhile, looked something up on her computer, gave Rin a once-over, and agreed to whatever Makoto had requested of her. She placed a sign informing guests and residents she would be return in a few minutes and walked around the desk to join Rin on the other side. 

 

“Follow me,” she demanded, walking briskly towards the elevator bank. Rin did not have to be told twice. “Tachibana-san asked me to escort you up to his flat and let you inside.” Rin remained thoroughly confused during the short elevator ride to the eighth floor, but he followed Mirai as she led him off the elevator towards Makoto’s home. She unlocked the door, gestured him inside, then bid him a good evening.

 

Rin watched the door close before slowly turning around. The deafening silence sat in this flat, like it had in his own. Similarly, it was dark and still and Rin could not smell anything that implied Makoto was here, despite having recently answered the incessant buzzing of his intercom. He toed off his shoes and crept through the entryway. He felt like he was trespassing. 

 

“Mako?” Rin called out timidly, as he advanced further into the space, flicking on lights wherever he went. He noticed the strip of light coming from under the bedroom door. He made his way over and rapped gently on the door. “Hey Mako, can I come in?”

 

A low moan greeted his ears, which Rin chose to take as ascent, as he pushed the door open. Taking a step into the bedroom, Rin was greeted with the most pathetic state in which he had ever seen a grown man. Makoto was curled into the fetal position on his bed, half the covers tangled around his legs, the other half abandoned on the floor. He held one hand on his head while the other covered his stomach protectively. His lashes stood out on a face that was pale and sweating, and his chest heaved shallow breaths.

 

“Rin, I need you,” Makoto gasped out, before he moved a hand up to cover his mouth as harsh coughs wracked his body.

 

Rin strode over to the bed as quickly as he could. “Holy shit, what can I do?”

 

“I don’t know, just please do something,” his ailing partner pleaded, another coughing fit overtaking him. 

 

Rin placed one of his calloused palms on Makoto’s head and found the skin burning up. He pushed his damp hair off his hot forehead, patting it over to the side so it would not flop back. “I’m going to make you a cold compress and get you a glass of water, okay? Let’s try to cool you down before we do anything else.” Rin hustled to the bathroom to grab a few washcloths, then rushed to the kitchen to fill a bowl with ice. He poured water into a glass tumbler and made his way back to Makoto’s side. “Can you sit up, do you think? You should hydrate and I don’t want you to choke.”

 

Rin eased his arm under Makoto’s shoulders and reached his other arm across his chest to slowly, gently, pull the larger man to a more upright sitting position. He cupped one hand softly against the sticky brown hair at the nape of Makoto’s neck, while bringing the water to his ailing boyfriend’s lips. “Slow sips, Mako, just like that. That’s really good, can you swallow?”

 

Rin watched half the water trickle down the pallid chin in front of him, pooling on the already soaked shirt Makoto wore. He went to the closet to find a clean comfortable shirt for him to wrangle his partner into, where he chose Makoto’s favorite shirt that was a dark chocolate color and read in bright green lettering **world’s goodest teacher**. 

 

“Mako, let’s get you in something dry and snuggly, and then I’m going to put some cold packs on your pulse points.” Rin gripped the hem of Makoto’s dirtied shirt and pulled it up his trembling body. His fingertips grazed lean abdominal muscles along the way and Makoto shivered violently and groaned. “It’s okay, I’ve got you, I’ll get you changed. Hang in there.” He kept working the shirt up, trying so hard to be gentle he inadvertently ran his knuckles agonizingly slowly over firm pectorals. He gasped when he came in contact with a nipple and heard Makoto choke out a breath. 

 

“Rin, I need you to take care of me.” Makoto threw his head back against the wall and sighed. He moved a shaking arm over to Rin’s thigh and weakly squeezed. 

 

“Ummm, let’s get you dry and cooled down and healthy first, Mako. Then I promise I’ll take care of you however you want.” Rin’s head spun, as he tried to focus on his caretaking role. He finally wrangled the sweat-soaked shirt over Makoto’s head and grabbed the clean one to finish the exchange. 

 

One of Makoto’s large hands lunged for Rin’s wrist, where he took a firm hold and jammed Rin’s hand against his naked torso to trail it along the expanse of his chest. Rin’s fingertips pressed against overheated flushed skin as he tried to get his bearings. His self-control grappled with his logical brain, which screamed at him that Makoto was sick, and probably delusional, and this definitely fell under the Taking Advantage banner. His hand raised and lowered itself along with Makoto’s shallow breathing. With his free hand, Rin carried on, placing ice in a washcloth and trying to awkwardly fold it closed one-handed. He placed the makeshift compress on Makoto’s neck, where he knew a major artery was located which would cool the blood down faster. 

 

Makoto took the hand that wasn’t forcing Rin to massage his chest and clutched at the back of Rin’s head, pulling it down towards his neck. “I don’t want ice, Rin, I want you. Take care of me.”

 

Rin’s lips reverently touched fevered skin in the crook where Makoto’s neck and shoulders met, while he dutifully kept the ice tucked on the other side. He gulped down his feelings and attempted to slow his heart rate. He had not seen Makoto in a week and they had yet to really explore this side of their relationship. Rin was convinced his boyfriend was hallucinating or having fever dreams or something to which he could attribute the urgency he showed right now. They had made out a lot since they got together but decided they wanted to take everything else slow, really build to it, both nervous to rock the emotional boat. It had taken too long, it was worth too much, there was too much at stake to burn it to the ground with hurried passion and frantic coupling. He felt an aching need pulsing through him. Makoto was the one with the fever but Rin was on fire. 

 

Makoto stopped holding Rin to his neck to run his hand through crimson hair, delicately carding his fingers through locks that Rin knew were getting too long. When his boyfriend got down to the nape of his neck, he brought his hands back up to the scalp, where he lightly tugged and released to let his fingers flow back through silky strands. Rin practically purred as he kissed and licked up the column of Makoto’s neck towards his ear. He forced himself to lean back to switch the cold pack to the other side, replacing his mouth with ice and earning a growl from the ill man in the process. 

 

Rin sat back, panting, feeling sweat trickle along his brow. “Makoto, stop, wait for a second. How about you take another drink of water?” He grabbed the glass and lifted it to Makoto’s mouth. Emerald eyes snapped open. They looked hazy and unfocused and they stared at Rin as Makoto sipped the cool liquid.

 

“I’m tired, Rin. I want to sleep,” Makoto slurred out a few words after he swallowed, as he slid down the wall to lay flat. 

 

Rin adjusted pillows under his head and put together a few more ice packs, placing them under each knee, under each armpit, and switching out the one that still rested against Makoto’s neck. He expected resistance to the onslaught of freezing temperatures on sensitive, overheated skin but his partner was already passed out. Rin huffed out a breath he was not aware he had been holding. He stood up and retrieved the blankets that were on the floor, waving them out and laying them over Makoto’s sleeping form. 

 

A wave of exhaustion crashed into Rin. He ran a calloused palm over the back of his neck and his fingertips pressed into tense muscle there, trying to rub away the emotional rollercoaster of the evening. He needed to go to bed. He thought about going back to his flat, but dismissed the idea as foolish since Makoto could wake in the middle of the night needing him. He looked at the king-size bed he recalled the currently unconscious man had splurged on right when he got his first teaching job out of university. The intelligent side of Rin’s brain instructed him to get a comforter and an extra pillow and go sleep on the couch. The other side, still partially inflamed from Makoto’s incessant heat, ordered Rin to just go lay down next to Makoto. 

 

Rin stripped down to his boxer briefs, thankful he had already showered and gotten into clean clothes after his day of traveling, and went to the unoccupied side of the bed. He pulled back the covers and slid in next to his boyfriend, determined to not disturb him. He rolled over and scooted as close as he could get, in between Makoto’s arm and his body, to be flush against his warm, muscular side. Rin tucked his own arm around the solid waist in front of him, and settled his head on Makoto’s firm chest that rose and fell rhythmically. He felt puffs of breath gently tickle the strands of hair that fell over his face. 

 

Rin closed his eyes, thoroughly content. He mumbled soft words into Makoto’s chest, an unheard promise to finish in the morning what they had started the night before. 

 

**

 

“Mmrph,” Rin grunted when his head fell against the bed, his living body pillow removed from underneath him. He cracked open an eye and saw an angel hovering above him. Makoto straddled Rin’s body with his thighs, bracketing him with his powerful arms, while back-lit by the early morning sun streaming in through the window. Seeing Makoto with a halo was not a surprising sight, it completely suited him. 

 

“Good morning, Rin,” Makoto uttered with a husky voice Rin hardly recognized. He swooped down to nuzzle at Rin’s neck, mouthing at his jaw, licking up to his ear. 

 

Rin was not awake enough to form coherent words, but the fire that had burned last night was stoked with a few ministrations from Makoto’s lips. He trailed his calloused hands down his partner’s back, fingertips pressed along strong muscles, urging Makoto closer. The other man complied, lowering himself to rest on his forearms on either side of Rin’s head. He looked up and rested their foreheads together, both cool to the touch. 

 

“You know, I wasn’t delusional last night. I may have been sick but I knew what I wanted, what I still want. I don’t think what we have is that easily rocked. I think it can withstand a little passion, don’t you?” Makoto sounded clear-headed and determined, and his voice made something inside Rin spasm.

 

“It _has_ been like a decade in the making,” Rin quickly agreed, running his tongue over his bottom lip as he got lost in the crystal green eyes above him. With a surge, Makoto pressed down and Rin pushed up; they collided together in an explosion of heat and passion, fueled by an entirely different fever than the night before.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Well that was awkward.
> 
> Anyway. The next one is young Rin and Makoto. It doesn't really fit in the timeline in a way I can force it to fit. It's more oneshot-y than any of these other ones, so I'll just keep it in spot 4 for now and perhaps rearrange based on what else I find down the road.


End file.
